STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island anglers, it looks like you're about to get a long overdue dose of fluke fairness.

Flawed and decades-old data -- that has set limits for recreational and commercial fluke allocations in New York -- could be a thing of the past, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) said his Fluke Fairness Act will be included in a bipartisan proposal set to reauthorize the federal law -- the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation Management Act -- that governs that nation's fisheries in the next few weeks.

The measure would require that current data is used to determine catch limits and eliminate inequities among states, which have the affect of restricting the number of fluke New Yorkers can catch.

Schumer noted the current law is so inequitable that it permits anglers from other states to pull more fish from New York waters than New Yorkers themselves.

"The Fluke Fairness Act finally merges science and common-sense science and now, with bi-partisan support, our long-sought after dream could soon become a reality for Staten Island anglers," said Schumer. "For far too long, anglers throughout New York were put at a serious disadvantage, and this is the closest we've ever been to permanently fixing the fluke problem."

"The FCA appreciates Sen. Schumer's attention to our fisheries issue and we are confident that, with his help, we can finally resolve it," said Staten Islander Bill Paciello, vice chairman of the Fishermen's Conservation Association.

Flawed data from 1980-89 and 1998 is responsible for the fluke quota allocations, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and do not take into account changes in the fluke population, which is increasingly abundant, as well as fishing patterns.

Currently, New York is permitted only 7.6 percent of the catch for the commercial sector and 17 percent in the recreational sector, deemed to be the most restrictive, according to testimony at a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

Fluke is the most popular recreational fish in New York's marine district, which includes more than 200,000 fishermen and women and a thriving charter and commercial fishing industry.